Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Clancy's Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips - Aldi

Clancy's Cheesy Garlic Bread Potato Chips- Aldi

Cheesy Garlic Bread chips? Awesome, but you're a little late to the party, Aldi. Lay's debuted this flavor in their first Do Us A Flavor contest back in 2013, which it won, and it's been a permanent flavor ever since. (Which killed the chance for my beloved Sriracha chips ever returning.) I wasn't a huge fan of the Lay's version, but I thought I would still check this out. Is it a simple rebranding under a no-frills label? Or is this an entirely different product? Let's find out!

Aldi's house brands have come a long way over the years, but their Clancy's line is still rough around the edges. Everything about this bag is bold, and simple, which are normally good things, but this package in particular feels boring and empty. These are cheesy garlic-y chips, there is absolutely no reason for it to be boring! To make up for some of that emptiness of the general layout, they made the text gigantic! Which, instead of helping, makes this look rushed and lazy. If they had added some kind of faux texturing to the background, I think this could have looked a lot less no-frills-y, but they didn't. Which is a pity. Especially since the food imagery is so appealing! Look at that cheesy garlic bread! The foodie photo department is stepping up to the plate, it's the graphics team that needs to get their head in the game. (I used sports metaphors, cause you know, I'm oh so athletic. I've never played a sport in my life.)

As soon as I opened the bag I could smell something cheesy, but it's definitely not real cheese. This smells just like that artificial orange-colored powder that comes with macaroni and cheese, or Herr's cheese curls. I can also smell something a little buttery and, of course, there's a hint of garlic as well. These chips don't smell like authentic cheesy garlic bread, it kind of smells like you took the garlic butter dipping sauce from Papa John's Pizza and dumped it into a bag of Cheetos.

I took a bite, and these are a lot more buttery and garlic than the Lay's version, but it still has that artificial cheese-shaker flavoring to it. I'm picky about my cheese flavored snacks (I only like the crunchy version of Cheetos and cheese crackers like Cheez It, or Cheese Nips), so for me, this fake cheesy flavoring was off putting. However, my cheese-curl-loving mother and sister really seemed to enjoy them. In the end, it's really all about your personal preference. If you're a cheese curl lover, and you felt like Lay's Cheesy Garlic Bread chips were a bit too mild, you might want to look into this Aldi version which amps up the garlic and buttery flavoring. If you're a picky cheese snacker, like me, this is artificial cheese with garlic dipping sauce, in chip form. I can't say I'm a fan, but I could see a lot of other people enjoying this one, and I'm impressed that this Aldi version's more flavorful than the Lay's one. (Although Sriracha will always be the best. RIP Lay's Sriracha chips. You are sorely missed.)

Clancy's is an Aldi brand, so this particular version is only sold at Aldi stores. Just last month I saw these chips back on the shelves in my local Aldi, they seem to resurface at random, so it's best to keep an eye out and stock up when you can.